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Revit Formulas

This document provides examples of formulas that can be used in Revit parametric families and content to control geometric properties. It includes formulas for basic math operations, trigonometry, conditional statements, rounding, and ensuring parameter values fall within a specified range. Revit 2012 introduced new rounding functions - ROUND, ROUNDDOWN, and ROUNDUP.

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Maxwell
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910 views

Revit Formulas

This document provides examples of formulas that can be used in Revit parametric families and content to control geometric properties. It includes formulas for basic math operations, trigonometry, conditional statements, rounding, and ensuring parameter values fall within a specified range. Revit 2012 introduced new rounding functions - ROUND, ROUNDDOWN, and ROUNDUP.

Uploaded by

Maxwell
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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I´ve been building a lot of parametric content in Revit, and always enjoy the power of using

formulas to drive and control things. So here´s a few examples that I´ve collected over time,
and also some VERY recent additions (New rounding functions in Revit 2012).
The basic operators (add, subtract, multiply, ect.) have been left out on purpose, but feel free
to add more useful formulas, that you use in your families

Exponentiation
X raised to the power of Y = X ^ Y

E raised to an x power
E is a mathematical constant that is approximately equal to 2.7. It is an irrational number, but
if we truncate it to 20 decimals it would be 2.7182818284590452353.
Revit usage = exp(x)

Circles with pi π
Usage in Revit = pi()

Circumference = pi() * (Radius * 2)


Circumference = pi() * Diameter
Circle Area = pi() * Radius ^ 2

Square Root
Fixed value = sqrt(999)
Parameter = sqrt(Width)
Formula= sqrt(Width + Height)

Logarithm
The logarithm of a number to a given base is the exponent to which the base must be raised in
order to produce that number. For example, the logarithm of 1000 to base 10 is 3, because
three factors of 10 must be multiplied to yield a thousand: 10 × 10 × 10 equals 1000
Revit usage = log(1000)

Force yes/no parameters to be checked or unchecked


Force checked = 1 < 2
Force unchecked = 1 > 2

Conditional statements
Conditional statement uses this structure:

IF (<condition>, <result-if-true>, <result-if-false>)

Supported Conditional Operators

< Less than


> Greater than
= Equal
/ Divide
AND Both statements are true
OR One of the statements is true
NOT Statement is false

Conditional statements can contain numeric values, numeric parameter names, and Yes/No
parameters.
Currently, <= and >= are not implemented. To express such a comparison, you can use a logical
NOT. For example, a<=b can be entered as NOT(a>b)

Simple IF Statement
IF (Length < 900, <true>, <false>)

Formula That Returns Strings


IF (Length < 900, “Opening too narrow”, “Opening OK”)

Using logical AND


IF ( AND (x = 1 , y = 2), <true>, <false>)
Returns <true> if both x=1 and y=2, else <false>

Using logical OR
IF ( OR ( x = 1 , y = 2 ) , <true>, <false>)
Returns <true> if either x=1 or y=2, else <false>

Nested IF statements
IF ( Length < 500 , 100 , IF ( Length < 750 , 200 , IF ( Length < 1000 , 300 , 400 ) ) )
Returns 100 if Length<500, 200 if Length<750, 300 if Length<1000 and 400 if Length>1000

IF with Yes/No condition


Length > 40
Returns checked box (<true>) if Lenght > 40

NOT with Yes/No condition


not(Viz)
Returns checked box (<true>) if Yes/No parameter "Viz" is unchecked, and returns unchecked
box (<false>) if Yes/No parameter "Viz" is checked.

IF AND OR Returning the greatest of three values


Say you have these 3 length parameters, and want a fourth parameter to return the greates
value/lenght of the 3:

Length A
Length B
Length C
Return Length (Returns the greatest of the three length parameters)

Return Length = if(and(or(Length A > Length B, Length A = Length B), or(Length A > Length C,
Length A = Length C)), Length A, if(and(or(Length B > Length A, Length B = Length A), or(Length
B > Length C, Length B = Length C)), Length B, if(and(or(Length C > Length A, Length C = Length
A), or(Length C > Length B, Length C = Length B)), Length C, 0 mm)))

Credit to: Joe Zhou for this formula!

Another option is to use an extra "Calc" parameter, which is a bit more clumsy but also way
easier and more manageable for us mortals.

Calc = if(Length A > Length B, Length A, Length B)

Return Length = if(Calc > Length C, Calc, Length C)

And a third option:

Return Length = if(A > D, if(A > C, if(A > B, A, B), if(B > C, B, C)), if(B > D, if(B > C, B, C), if(C > D, C,
D)))

Credit to: Ekkonap who posted this on May 23rd 2011.

Trigonometry for right triangles:

Known: a+b
c = sqrt(a ^ 2 + b ^ 2)
A = atan(a / b)
B = atan(b / a)

Known: a+c
b = sqrt(c ^ 2 - a ^ 2)
A = asin(a / c)
B = acos(a / c)

Known: b+c
a = sqrt(c ^ 2 - b ^ 2)
A = acos(b / c)
B = asin(b / c)

Known: c + A
a = c * sin(A)
b = c * cos(A)
B = 90° - A

Known: c + B
a = c * cos(B)
b = c * sin(B)
A = 90° - B

Known: a + B
b = a * tan(B)
c = a / cos(B)
A = 90° - B

Known: b + A
a = b * tan(A)
c = b / cos(A)
B = 90° - A

Known: a + A
b = a / tan(A)
c = a / sin(A)
B = 90° - A

Known: b + B
a = b / tan(B)
c = b / sin(B)
A = 90° - B

Range of Values

Given the following parameters:

user_value:
min_value:
max_value:
actual_value: = if (user_value < min_value, min_value, if (user_value > max_value, max_value,
user_value))

Specify a range of valid entries, with the min_value and max_value parameters; then, use the
actual value if it is within the range; otherwise, use your minimum or maximum values.

Credits: Alfredo Medina, who posted this on March 23rd 2011

Circular Segments.

Here's how to calculate the Segment length, the Chord Length, the Angle etc. (Image should
speak for itself)
Sample file posted here

Inconsistent Units

Theres a seperate post explaining this behavior here:


Revit - Inconsistent Units and how to neutralize them.

Round Function In Formulas - New in Revit 2012


Values in formulas can be now rounded up or down. For example, when riser height is
calculated, one needs the function “round” to find the appropriate value.
ROUND(x)
The round function returns a number rounded nearest to a whole number. It doesn’t take into
consideration rounding direction (round up or down). If the number is (for example) from 24.5
to 24.9, the function rounds it to 25. If it is from 23.1 to 23.4, the function rounds it to 23.
Examples:
round ( 23.4) = 23
Round ( 23.5) = 24
Round ( 23.6) = 24
Round (-23.4) = -23
Round (-23.5) = -23
Round (-23.6) = -24
Syntax
The syntax for the round function is: round( number)
number is the number to round.
ROUNDDOWN(x)
“x” is a unitless value that should return the smallest integral value less than or equal to x.
For example:
rounddown ( 23.0) = 23
rounddown ( 23.5) = 23
rounddown ( 23.9) = 23
rounddown (-23.0) = -23
rounddown (-23.5) = -24
rounddown (-23.9) = -24
The syntax for the rounddown function is: rounddown (number)
number is the number to round down.
ROUNDUP(x)
“x” is a unitless value that should return the largest integral value greater than or equal to x.
For example:
roundup ( 23.0) = 23
roundup ( 23.5) = 24
roundup ( 23.9) = 24
roundup (-23.0) = -23
roundup (-23.5) = -23
roundup (-23.9) = -23
The syntax for the roundup function is: roundup (number)
number is the number to round up.
Note that when numbers such as 23.5 are rounded, they can result in either 23 or 24. To
produce a stable result, for all the .5 cases, we round to the larger integer. That means that
23.5 is rounded to 24, while -23.5 to -23

Round to a number: (Credit to: Sander_Malschaert)

number to round: X
number to round to: Y

(ROUND(X/Y))*Y

rounding a parameter value to the nearest five would look like this:

(ROUND(<parameter>/5))*5

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